Fernando Salaz

10-27-16
Current Event #5
Link to the article: http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/27/politics/latino-vote-2016/index.html
We should all have the right to vote, right? Do you think some of the votes of a certain
race/races would affect the outcome of the election? This article was updated today, October 27th,
2016 by Ana Cabrera and Sara Weisfeldt and it is about how Latino votes could affect the 2016
political race. It begins with talking about a woman named Flor Cardona with an infectious
laugh. She has a positive attitude and was refreshed by the power of American democracy. She
voted for the first time in Las Vegas last Saturday. Flor is a proud Mexican-American who
immigrated to the United States 16 years ago. She is also a single mom with two young children.
She said she came with no papers and could not speak English. The only thing I had was a big
bag of dreams, she said. Her fight on this new journey has been rough. She worked very hard to
learn English and found a job as a high school counselor and even survived stage four cancer.
She barley became a US citizen two years ago and wants a candidate that will fight for her and
her family. She says that is why she is voting for Hillary Clinton. The article then talks about
another Mexican-American woman named Irma Aguirre. She is an entrepreneur and feels
passionate about this years election. Irma owns a Mexican Bistro and refers to it as her baby.
She is a third-generation American with Mexican heritage. Its a celebration of our culture, our
cuisine, our people. Its our contribution to the American economy. She said that over a bowl of
homemade salsa and tortilla chips. Irma is also very proud of her accomplishments, culture, and
her country but worries about where we are heading. She states, I think we are going down the
wrong path. Her desire for change is driving her support for Donald Trump. Flor and Irma are
both part of the powerful Latino electorate in Nevada which is a group that makes up about 20
percent of all voters in the state. However, the article states Theyre on different sides of the
political divide. The article then claims that Charles Munoz, Donald Trumps Nevada state
director, has been attempting to engage with the Hispanic community. It states, We have daily
calls with community leaders, calls and meetings with evangelical leaders, pastors, local
chamber folks for over a year now here. The article then directly states how Hillary Clintons
camp has been working on Hispanic outreach with door knocks, phone calls, and Spanish
language television ads. Hillarys head operator in the state, Jorge Neri, states, Making sure that
Latinos turn out in high rates is a strategic priority for us. The article states that, Nationwide,
this years election could see a possible record number of Hispanic voters with 27.3 million
eligible to cast ballots. The article then talks about Trumps rhetoric. GOP pollster Whit Ayers
shakes his head as he talks about Trumps hypocritical comments about Mexicans. Whit says,
He has run against non-whites his entire campaign, not only against Latinos, but against
Muslims and against anybody who wasnt already a part of the republican base. Thats no way to
win a presidential election. The article says that Flor cites Trumps rhetoric as part of her
motivation to vote for Clinton. Irma does not tolerate Trumps rhetoric but she countered, those
arent the things that Im focused on. Im focused on someone that I know is a do-er, someone
that, like myself, has a dream, has a vision, and brings it to reality by working super, super hard.

Fernando Salaz
10-27-16
The last thing the article talks about is a Puerto Rican military veteran named, Christian Sierra,
who devotes to his country and his culture and that is why he started volunteering with Mi
Familia Vota: An organization that gives Latinos an impact on the future of their country no
matter which candidate they support. He states, We do have a lot of power and I feel like a lot
of Latinos dont realize that. We kind of want that culture of being politically involved.
The credibility of this article is pretty good! It is reliable because it contains experiences
that Latinos went through and also their opinions on where they stand in this election and why.
They all werent the exact same race, as well. Two of Latinos CNN included in this article was of
Mexican heritage and the other was Puerto Rican heritage. The article contains a person talking
about how hypocritical Donald Trump is to possibly lead to persuade people (more specifically
Latinos) not to vote for him. It is also reliable because it offers exactly how two candidates
(Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton) have been attempting to connect and engage with Latinos to
create a healthy relationship with them and to persuade them to vote for them. The article also
contains statistics such as how many Latinos are eligible to vote this year and the percentages of
Latinos who voted for certain people in the past. The sourcing is reliable as well because they
interviewed appropriate people who struggled as Latinos to be considered an American despite
their heritage and added only one non-Latino to support their claim on how Donald Trump is
hypocritical and how he would most likely not make America fair for everyone.
I do agree with the authors interpretation because I am a proud Latino myself and
although I was born in the United States, I still come from Mexican heritage. Not only because
of that but the author provides experiences of Latinos who struggled to be considered an
American and incorporates their opinions and their reasons they have. Donald Trump has made
disrespectful comments about Latinos, more specifically to Mexicans due to the United States
and Mexico being so close to each other but in the end, he still offended a society and theres
been a large amount of people who agree that Donald Trump says rather offensive comments.
There are many good people who come from Mexico or other Latin heritage and are hard
workers only looking for work, a fresh start, etc. As humans, we all have rights (freedom of
speech, etc.) and deserve the same amount of respect.
My analysis of this article reveals that race in American identity politics can be
considered biased. Some people may conclude that just because of their race, they will not be
worthy enough to vote and to be considered an American citizen. Just because your identity
would be considered different, doesnt give people the right to disrespect them. It is a positive
thing that Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump claim to be attempting to start a strong relationship
with Latinos, but are they really? Based on what Donald Trump said in the past, conclusions can
be made to say that Trump may be not doing things from his heart. Race in society should not get
in the way of seeing how someone really is inside. It is not worth it! Any race has the right to
vote and no one should take that away from people!